CORRUPTION IN THE GOVERNMENT

Corruption, they say, is part of the Filipino culture. Lately it has been the most discussed issue when one survey indicated the Philippines as the most corrupt government. Does this mean all Filipinos are corrupt? I guess not. What was reported in the survey were more visible corrupt practices done by few people but affected many. These few people are the ones who run the government or its agencies and this is to include the people who had the political power to influence or even induce corruption.

Overpricing is the most common form of corruption. Just recently, the preparations done for the 12th ASEAN Summit were discovered to have been marred by corruption. According to reports, this was done with the knowledge and even participation by some ranking politicians and some government agency heads. These people knew that corruption in any form is bad. So, what prompted them to do it? Were they pressured by a more corrupt mind or by a situation so hard to cope with?

But corruption can be stopped. There are more Filipinos who have a good set of values. There are more Filipinos whose consciences are not elastic. Most of all, the law must be put into action. They must be imposed on people who made violations most especially if they are holding key positions in the government. Often we heard of corrupt politicians but our laws seem to have little effect on them. Is this maybe because our justice system is also marred by corruption? We do not know for sure but it is evident that in our country it is seldom heard that one politician was imprisoned due to corruption. If men of values were placed, corruption would be eradicated but it would take a long way. A special body was formed supposedly to curb and solve corruption but was too slow to act on certain individuals and sometimes fast on others. This indicates another form corruption.

Values education is important. All persons earmarked to handle key positions should undergo a training program which enhances ones values and has to be evaluated. The law must be tougher on politicians most especially that they are the ones who have great influence on the masses. And the masses are those who vote for those who would take responsibility over and serve the people. If people get easily swayed by the sweet tongues of our candidates, the future of the Philippines is in peril.

The current state of the economy is a result of the corruption and lies the government politicians inflict. As voters, it is your responsibility to vote wisely and guard these corrupt officials and prevent them them from taking seat in the government ever again. ##

THE SEASON OF ELECTIONS

May 14, 2007, the date all those political candidates aspire to dominate. A significant date for those who are hungry for power, yes, the date of the elections.

Once again, we hear those ads in televisions and radios and see posters sticked on any surface visible to any passer by, such sore eyes. My eyes hurt and pain seeing those posters of smiling political candidates labelled by their names with a famous line that they bring up to be remembered by our brains. I think several surveys have been conducted to know the leading candidates for senatoriables or congressmen. It is not that I do not care for the coming elections in our country, it is just that I am not in favour of the most people who candidate for seats in the government. In our country, politicians rule, now where is that line that says “The power of the government emanates from the people”? Have they forgotten that? Politicians get elected to serve the people not for them to be served. It is true that people elect them to have someone to govern over them but others are so into their power that they abuse it.

Have our government taken into account the problem of graft and corruption? Have they undertaken the necessary steps to stop this? They say they have, but do we feel it? Yes we feel it…we feel a stronger corruption case in the country. Just to remind you, the Philippines is the country who topped the survey as the no. 1 most corrupt in the whole of Asia. It is not something we should be celebrating about but rather something we should be hiding our faces for, in shame. Now, when our president heard of this, she did not feel any shame, instead she said that the survey conducted was a fraud and that it was based on records of long ago. Sigh. I remember a line said by my father, he said that those ordinary Filipinos bring honor to the Philippines while the Filipino politicians bring shame.

I say, most of the politicians are so good at lying, it becomes their life. This time of elections, 8- point Agenda and platforms for the fixing of roads, renovation of school buildings, structuring of bridges and all the promises those candidates could think of are so out of tune. They promise and after being elected as officials, it feels like they catch an unusual case of amnesia that they readily forget all the promises they have made in front of the public. A line from an advertisement of a senatorial candidate says “Pangarap kong tuparin ang pangarap mo.(I dream to fulfil your dream)”, now, it sounds kind of funny because it tells us the fact that they promise to dream the fulfilment of the dream of their countrymen but have no intention of fulfilling it.

This coming elections, the Filipino people should choose and vote wisely and at the same time guard for the threat of cheating.##

THE RETREAT

On a Friday night, my parents kept bugging me on what I should bring to our class’ retreat the next day. I did not have the excitement of a teenager to eagerly prepare for the coming day. I was busy complying the 26 articles for the Blog project to be uploaded on a Wednesday. Catching a glimpse of the clock, it read 11:30 pm, and still I am awake. My eyes are so painful already and I want to sleep but there are so many things to worry about. I am a graduating student in high school and in a given short time I want to finish all the requirements the teachers are demanding for the clearance. I felt like screaming out all my frustrations. I am all stressed out. Should I still attend the retreat or should I utilize the time for working on my requirements? I did not know what to do. My parents still bugged me on packing this and that for the retreat. I guess that was it. I guess I should join the retreat to take the time off because lately I have been so busy doing this and that. I guess I should stop awhile and think of myself. Okay, I will join the retreat.

The next day I arrived at school at around 8 am with my mother who came along to help me carry my things. My classmates had already arrived bringing with them their things. A little while later, my mom went home and we were told to move to the classroom of IV- Tan. There we were told to answer a questionnaire on predicting outcomes of events that could possibly happen to teenagers like us. Afterwards, we were told to share our answers to our other classmates. Then, we had a briefing on what people do on a retreat.

The next thing we did was the part that I enjoyed best. It was called “Positive Stroking” I think. We were divided into two groups. The first group were told to form a circle and sit and close their eyes. The second group of students were told to whisper positive things about the person they are whispering to. While listening to people whisper all the positive things about me, I felt like crying, I was indeed very happy. It felt like my self- esteem boosted up so high. Then we loaded the jeepney and rode all the way to Banawa, Labangon where a major part of the retreat was to be conducted.

We arrived at around 2 pm. The place was marvellous! It felt like we were in Baguio. We were told to speak softly for it was a place where nuns and priests stay and pray. Then, we were showed to our rooms and relax for awhile. Afterwards, a series of lectures were made and the Adoration followed. The next part was that when we were told to form a circle and each were given candles for them to light and give to another who may have hurt him or to ask forgiveness for a sin he caused. It was a tearjerker. My classmates, most of them, cried out all the hurts and at last the wounds inflicted to the hearts were healed. It was already 11 pm when we went back to our rooms to sleep.

That night, I could not sleep. I wonder why, maybe because I was not used to sleeping on that place. There are times when I sleep but would only last for utmost ten minutes and I was back, awake again. It was like a routine that kept on going until 3 am in the morning. I then rose from the sleeping mat. I noticed that my three roommates were already awake too. I asked them if they had some sleep, their reply was that they have not sleep the whole night until now. To utilize the time, we took our bath and went outside at around 4 am to ask our teacher on what to do or prepare for breakfast. She said that we should go to the kitchen and boil water for everyone, and so we did it.

The kitchen was situated beside the rooms of the boys. I noticed they had their lights out until this 4 am. No one was up. Then, I noticed a boy step outside; it was a friend of mine. He asked us on whether we took our bath already and we replied yes and he said he’d take a bath too. We made our way to the kitchen and boiled water afterwards, many were soon up and began walking around. After a while, breakfast was served.

We had a bible sharing after and then a holy mass to officially end our retreat. It was a nice experience, I really learned a lot from it. I learned that we should not take or do anything with fast for it only makes us lose our intended point of direction which is success.

“In life’s race you run fast to finish first and get to success in a short time, but the more faster you run, the more you get lost.”##

THE LOOK

The first time I read this poem was when I went to the IV- Tan room for my elective class. It was written clearly on the board. It was a really short poem. As I read it, I began to know and feel the essence of such.

The persona of the poem was a girl who was at one time kissed on the cheek by a man and at an other time kissed on the lips by another man but the kisses didn’t burn her heart nor did it make her fall, but the look a man gave her, even though he did not kiss, was so lingering that it haunts her night and day.

That poem clearly reminds me of a song entitled “The Way You Look at Me” sung by Christian Bautista with the lyrics:

“No one ever saw me like you do
All the things that I could add up to
I never knew just what a smile was worth
But your eyes say everything without a single word

Coz there’s something in the way you look at me
It’s as if my heart knows you’re the missing piece
You make me believe that there is nothing in this world I can be
I never know what you see
But there’s something in the way you look at me”

How one person stares at another without even uttering words nor making actions really makes an impact. I do not know, but somehow when someone stares or looks at me, it speaks louder than words, as if what the eyes are saying are so deep to be explained by the mouth, so deep. The eyes are the windows of the soul and the look on someone’s eyes clearly tells what a person feels and thinks. It reveals the person’s innermost thought.

Some girls find it so hard to detect whether or not a guy in her class likes her, they ask they friends to ask the guy to reveal whether he likes her, but as most of us know, boys are secretive and telling their secrets especially the name of their crushes would be really hard to do. I have a tip to the girls out there, you will know whether or not a guy has a crush on you by the way he looks at you, the looks of somewhat so meaningful and lingering, the same goes out to the boys. I think it is a good strategy of boys to look lovingly or at the girl they like in the eye when they talk or just pass each other by.

One does not need to kiss or hug to show he loves that person, a simple look in the eyes says the words you most needed and waited for to say.##

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ANIMATED SIMULATION AND BASIC GUI IN TEACHING PROJECTILE MOTION TO THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES HIGH

That is the title of the research paper which earned the first place in the Science Congress and Science Fair last February. It was a product of dedication and sweat by the researchers which made it through their utmost efforts and the support and help from their teachers and classmates.

The reason of why this research was allowed to pursue was due to the fact that it could greatly help the students who would soon be third year students of the University of the Philippines. The idea of this research was thought of by Nico Martin Eñego and made into realization by the help and efforts of his colleagues Daphne Arnado, Ella Beverly Sarmago and Paul Andrew Gutib.

This research is all about determining on which of the two computer programs, specifically the Animated Simulation which contained animations and the Basic GUI ,without animations, is more effective in teaching the Basic physics’ concept of Projectile Motion to the Third Year students of the University of the Philippines High School in Cebu.

The researchers chose this study because as previous students of the said course, they have experienced the difficulty in understanding the projectile motion concept due to the fact that the plain discussion and writings in the blackboard proved to be ineffective in making the subject interesting and enjoyable to learn. And so, the researchers developed computer programs, the Animated Simulation and the Basic GUI, and expose the present third year students to this and know which one is more effective.

To know whether a said program is effective, the achievement in the scores of the pre-test and post-test and their attitude towards it are the bases.

The third year students were divided into two groups namely the Animated Simulation group and the Basic GUI group. The grouping was based on the grades of the students in their Chemistry and Biology subjects combined in the previous school year. Twenty- three students per group were evenly matched and paired. The researchers solved for the significance of the difference between these two groups and found out that it was insignificant; hence, the two groups were equivalent.

The research pre-test and post-test were conducted in the third year class rooms. The students were told to answer the problems before they were exposed and after they were exposed to their respected computer programs. Then, the Animated Simulation group were exposed to the Animated Simulation program and the Basic GUI group to the Basic GUI. After the exposure and the post-test, the attitude test was given to know whether they liked the programs or not.

The data were then gathered and interpreted. Results showed that there was a significant mean gain of achievement after being exposed to the programs and the students yielded positive outlook towards these computer programs.

After the conduct and the interpretation of results the researchers concluded that the two computer programs were effective, however the students’ mean gain were significantly higher after they were exposed to the Animated Simulation. So, the Animated Simulation was the more effective computer program.

The researchers recommend the use and the application of these programs in teaching projectile motion to the Basic Physics’ class for a more interactive learning environment.##